Friday, March 17, 2017

The latest Wild Honey benefit for The Autism Think Tank will be held next Saturday, March 25 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale California. The all-star lineup of musicians playing The Band’s Music From Big Pink album will include original member Garth Hudson, along with Jackson Browne, Peter Case, Victoria Williams, Syd Straw, David Baerwald, Continental Drifters, Plainsong, Cait O’Riordan and several others.

Mahoney’s Pub & Grille on Ogden Avenue in Chicago is holding an Irish Fest tomorrow that will feature bagpipers, Irish dancers, and performances by Maggie Speaks, Three Men In Kilts, and the Larkin Brothers.

Barrington is billing its Seventh Annual Celtic Fest as “suburban Chicagoland’s largest St. Patrick’s Day Celebration” and will offer dancers, food and drink, live bands, bagpipers, and local merchants. It will be hosted by McGonigal’s Pub and runs through late tomorrow night.

Tickets went on sale today for Paul Simon at Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island on June 14; two shows by the Bodeans at City Winery on May 26; Ian Hunter and The Rant Band at Park West on May 13; and Heartsfield at FitzGerald’s on May 13.

New albums arriving today included Spirit by from Depeche Mode—who’ll at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater in Tinley Park on August 30, and Hot Thoughts by Spoon.

George Harrison’s The Vinyl Collection, a box set containing all 12 of his studio albums, is now available. It also includes a Live In Japan record and two picture-disc 12-inch singles.

After hearing an employee at the Graham Cracker Comic store in downtown Chicago talking about a local production of the High Fidelity Musical, I found a a review by theatre critic Kerry Reid on the Chicago Tribune’s website. Reid wasn’t overwhelmed by Refugee Theatre Project’s production but did note, “Christopher Pazdernik's endearing production brims with good-natured enthusiasm and dollops of sly wit, along with a fine onstage band headed by music director John Cockerill.” The play has been extended through March 25.

Hard-hitting power pop band Go Time! will be performing at Silvie’s Lounge in Chicago tomorrow night (March 18).

They’re still everywhere that I’m not. Translator, who had an FM radio hit with “Everywhere That I’m Not” in 1982, has dates with The Long Ryders coming up toward the end of April in California. Wish they would visit Chicago.

The tribute show Fleetwood Mac Mania will be performed at Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Park next Friday, March 24.

The Heroes And Villains Fan Fest comes to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center next weekend, March 25 and 26, with special guests from several popular TV shows. Two-day passes for general admission are $90, Saturday only is $55, and Sunday is $45. Various forms of VIP packages are also available.

The 20th Annual Chicago European Union Film Festival is currently taking place at the Gene Siskel Film Center, and by the time it’s finished on March 30, 62 films from 28 countries will have been screened.

The Last Waltz 40 Tour will pay a visit to The Chicago Theatre on April 19. Warren Haynes, Dr. John, and several other performers will be paying tribute to The Band’s star-studded farewell concert.

As mentioned here yesterday, tickets for Lollapalooza 2017 go on sale at 10:00 a.m. next Tuesday, March 21. The event takes place in Grant Park August 3 – 6; with a single day ticket running $120 and a four-day pass going for $335.

Ravinia announced its 2017 schedule, which includes Santana; Stephen Stills and Judy Collins; John Mellancamp; The Temptations and The Beach Boys; Blondie and Garbage; and The Moody Blues.

The LiveWire Lounge on Milwaukee Avenue continues its string of interesting bookings with a show on May 13 that will offer Splitsville, The Handcuffs, Collectors, and Hyperplane.

I’m not an avid fan of college basketball, but here are a few interesting things about Northwestern and the 2017 NCAA Tournament: It’s the first time in 78 years the university has qualified for participation. The team’s forward, Charlie Hall, is the son of actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus. According to Chicago Sun-Times reporter Gordon Wittenmyer, members of the Chicago Cubs, including Kris Bryant, are rooting for Northwestern. They won their first game of the tournament last night.

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About This Blog

Broken Hearted Toy is an eclectic celebration of creativity, with over 1,900 posts since 2009.

It's based in Chicago and covers power pop, garage, cutting-edge, and 1960s rock; along with occasional bits on art; literature; and theatre.

Top of the hill is a nice place to be at. - - - "Elevated Observations" by The Hollies.

Check out some of my other creative endeavors.

Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff is a weekly Internet show created by and starring Jeff Kelley. It mostly consists of comedy bits and obscure 1960s garage rock set to vintage TV and film clips but also spotlights entertainment events around Illinois.

Over the past few years, my wife Pam and I created a handful of series (each episode was about two minutes long) that were shown on Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff. They included Manchester Gallery (see description below); Old Days, which I hosted in the persona of a cranky old man named Fritz Willoughby; Roving Reporter, where I played the clueless title character; What's With Terry?, a performance arts program; and Hanging With The Hollies, a takeoff on Breakfast With The Beatles.

I've also worked with Kelley and contributors Willy Deal and David Metzger on comedy clips. Jeff just kicked off a new season of Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff, with some cool graphics to go with his new regular features. Willy Deal is onboard, and I'm hoping to join them for some creative endeavors in the near future.

I'm particularly proud of this 21-episode comedy series Pam and I created for Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff. Each installment was a few minutes long, and featured me portraying Terrence, the curator of a pop culture museum.

My original concept was to make up funny descriptions for some of the rock memorabilia I've collected, but it soon morphed into a sit-com format where my character's inept and devious ways constantly got him into trouble. The two running themes that fueled the action concerned a purloined Beatles button, and the scrambled eggs Paul McCartney was eating when he got the inspiration to compose "Yesterday."

I'm currently exploring options for pitching my Manchester Gallery web-based series to a media company that could help it reach a much larger audience.

This Chicago-based magazine has been covering rock music for close to 40 years, and has a readership of 165,000. I started contributing in 1987 and have written several feature stories and far too many album reviews to count. The Illinois Entertainer can also be found in an online edition.

After starting Broken Hearted Toy a few years back, I asked I.E.'s editor and publisher if I could post material that I had previously written for their publication, and they graciously granted me permission to do so.

Chicago Art Machine was a web-based publishing company run by Editor-in-Chief, Kathryn Born, and Managing Editor, Robin Dluzen, that included Chicago Art Magazine, Chicago DIY Film,Chicago Performance And Trailers, and TINC. Most of my submissions appeared in Chicago DIY Film and Chicago Performance And Trailers, although I contributed to all the online Chicago Art Machine publications.

Unfortunately, Chicago Art Machine has folded. I greatly enjoyed working with Kathryn and Robin, and I'm glad to see they've gone on to other projects in the arts and journalism. I hope to work with them again at some point in the future.

I was a writer and performer with this local comedy group from 1989 to 2009. Amusical parody I wrote about Arthur Andersen's Enron crisis was covered by the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader, and other publications.

Famous In The Future continues to perform in the Chicago area, and has appeared at every one of the Abbie Hoffman Died For Our Sins theatre festivals that are held each August at the Mary-Arrchie Theatre. Abbie Hoffman Died For Our Sins will celebrate its 25th Anniversary in August, 2013.

Famous In The Future has a musical side project called The Rut, which occasionally plays at concert events organized by whitewolfsonicprincess, a band that's an offshoot of Black Forest Theatre.

I'm an active member of SCBWI, (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) and have written two Middle Grade fantasy novels that I'm shopping to literary agents. I've finished a mystery/satiric novel that takes place amidst Chicago's alternative music scene in the mid-1980s.

Broken Hearted Toy

The blog title comes from the line, "I'm the brokenhearted toy you play with" in the song "I Can't Let Go" by The Hollies. One of the great original British Invasion bands, The Hollies continue to have an immense influence on power pop bands to this day, and have finally been inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Here is a video of "I Can't Let Go" being performed in 1966.